A foundation in knowledge and a positive mentor helped second-year medical student James A. Mauro publish his research as first author in the Feb. 25 issue of the journal Gene.

James Mauro presented his research at this year’s USF Health Research Day.

The research article, which is Mauro’s first first-author publication, provides a new understanding for how transcription factors (proteins that bind to a gene and flag it to be expressed) work. They allow cells to act in a certain way, and larger genes have more transcription factor binding sites and are, therefore, more sensitive to stimulation than smaller genes. The finding could aid in new disease treatments, including those for cancer, Mauro said.

“Increasing levels of pro-proliferative transcription factors would normally be thought to make a cancer worse, but according to our research, it may actually kill it,” he said.

Mauro’s faculty mentor, and the senior author on the study, is George Blanck, PhD, professor in the Department of Molecular Medicine in the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine.

“James’ project is solid bioinformatics and genomics work,” Dr. Blanck said. “He has the great combination of knowledge of science and knowledge of code writing. If he hadn’t been able to write the (computer) code to break down the data, the results would never have surfaced.”

Mauro, who has an undergraduate degree in biotechnology and a master’s degree in medical sciences, is also vice president of information technology for the Medical Student Council in the Morsani College of Medicine. The significance of being first author while in medical school is not lost on Mauro.

“I put a lot of hard work into it and it feels very worthwhile to finally see it published,” Mauro said. “It’s also a little scary, too. Typing my name into PubMed or Google now comes up with my paper, but I’m proud to see it there.”

The experience also shows the impact a positive mentoring relationship can have for medical students.

“Working with Dr. Blanck was absolutely great,” Mauro said. “From day one, he was a pleasure to work with and supported me 100 percent of the time. Even when things would go wrong, as they often do in research, he always helped me to stay on track. We would often discuss the results or what new direction to go towards and Dr. Blanck always made sure to give my ideas and opinions equal weight to his own, which was important since it allowed me to take my project in different directions and truly allowed me to make it my own. Most importantly, to do research, and actually enjoy it, you need to find more than just someone willing to take you on, you need a mentor, someone who you can learn from, and also someone who can learn from you.”

The article can be found in the journal Gene, Volume 536, Issue 2, 25 February 2014, Pages 398–406. (link to article)

Graduating medical students at the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine celebrated the next step in their careers at Match Day Friday – but first they and leading advocates took time out to call for increased support of graduate medical training.

Without increased federal funding for graduate medical training, the nation’s looming physician shortage will get worse, U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor said Friday at USF’s Match Day celebration. With more medical school students and no increase in residency slots, it’s getting harder each year for students to “match” into a residency space.

“Medical schools expect to graduate more students, but the number of available residency training slots will not keep up with this trend unless Congress invests in developing our residency programs to meet the health care needs of our aging population,” U.S. Rep. Castor said. “Giving teaching hospitals the opportunity to grow their training programs makes sense in their mission to provide quality health care and makes economic sense for Florida because doctors tend to remain in the region where they complete their medical training.”

L to R: Dr. Harry van Loveren, interim dean of the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, with U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor and Alicia Billington, a graduating USF Health medical student, at Match Day 2014.

Just before USF Health’s Match Day celebration began, Rep. Castor (D-FL) announced that she and U.S. Rep. Joe Heck (R-NV) introduced the Creating Access to Residency Education (CARE) Act of 2014 on Friday. The CARE bill aims to create a $25 million CMS grant program that would allow hospitals in states with a low ratio of graduate medical education (GME) training slots – including Florida – to apply for matching funds to support increases in slots.

USF Health leaders and students applauded Rep. Castor’s support of increased funding.

“We congratulate our students for reaching this milestone in their medical careers. On Match Day, we want to celebrate this culmination of their hard work and drive,” said Dr. Harry van Loveren, interim dean of the Morsani College of Medicine. “We’re also mindful today that the path they have traveled is becoming more difficult to navigate. We’re so grateful to have U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor with us today to push to increase federal funding and ensure that future medical students, both here in Florida and across the country, can enjoy this same success.”

Graduating students came to Match Day to learn their fates, finding out at Match Day where they would spend the next several years of their careers. Despite the suspense, students found time to be advocates. They chose to highlight the GME funding crisis on their Match Day T-shirts this year, which read “#save GME” across the back.

Before the Match Day celebration began, Congresswoman Castor announced the introduction of proposed legislation to support more residency training slots. Billington, right, is one of the nation’s leading student advocates for increased graduate medical education funding.

“We decided to do this after realizing, ‘What is the best present you could give to your classmates?’ A residency slot,” said graduating student Alicia Billington, one of the nation’s leading student advocates for increased GME funding.

“We stand in solidarity for your future Match Day,” Billington said Friday to future medical classes at USF. “We’ve got your back.”

Billington, who will graduate with an MD/PhD, learned Friday that she matched in plastic and reconstructive surgery – one of the country’s most competitive specialties – at her top choice, the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. Billington interned in Washington, D.C., with the American Medical Association and has focused her political efforts on increasing funding for GME.

National medical leaders thanked both Rep. Castor and Billington for their support of increasing funding, saying change is needed to avert a physician shortage that will limit access to health care.

“Match Day is a day of excitement, enthusiasm, and joy for medical students around the country,” said Dr. Darrell G. Kirch, President and CEO of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). “While we celebrate with these students, we also look ahead to the next decade when our nation will face a shortage of more than 90,000 physicians of all types.  This makes increasing federal support for graduate medical education a critical priority. The AAMC applauds the efforts of Rep. Kathy Castor, who is a true champion on GME and physician workforce issues.  And we thank student advocates like USF medical school senior and GME advocacy champion Alicia Billington for their hard work educating their communities about these important issues.”

In recent years, medical school enrollment has increased, while the federal funding that is the main funding source for the nation’s residency programs has remained capped. Last year, 528 medical students did not match – more than double the number of unmatched students the prior year.

“Not every medical student in the United States is going to get a spot this year,” Dr. van Loveren said to the USF Health students assembled for Match Day Friday. “Can you imagine going through all this and no residency training?”

Castor flashes the USF “Go Bulls” sign as Billington, recipient of the first match letter, finds out she’ll be doing a residency in plastic and reconstructive surgery at her first choice — the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine.

Florida has only 19 medical residents per 100,000 state residents, well below the national average of 26.8 residents, according to a 2012 study by the Association of American Medical Colleges. While Florida is the 4^th most populous state, it ranks 42^nd in the number of graduate medical residents per Florida residents.

With 3,898 medical students but only 3,769 residency and fellow positions, Florida also doesn’t have enough slots to go around. That means Florida is a “net exporter” of medical students – many students train here, but must go elsewhere for graduate training. Because so many students stay where they receive graduate training, exporting students means Florida loses future physicians.

That needs to change, Castor said Friday to USF Health’s Match Day crowd.

“It doesn’t take a brain surgeon,” she said, pointing to Dr. van Loveren, “to know we need talented doctors here in the state of Florida.”

Of the 121 USF Health students participating in Match Day, 39 percent will stay in Florida; 30 percent of the class matched at USF Health. Other students scattered across the country, going everywhere from Massachusetts General Hospital to UCLA Medical Center.

Every USF Health Morsani College of Medicine student participating in this year’s Match was matched to a residency slot. On the flip side, the College of Medicine also filled every one of its available residency slots with graduating medical students.

Photos by Eric Younghans, USF Health Communications

CLICK HERE FOR MATCH DAY 2014 RESULTS

Alicia Billington was the first to find out.

“Plastic surgery at University of South Florida,” she said, as she opened the first envelope for this year’s Match Day.

As one of 120 senior medical students matching, Billington found out where she will spend the next few years as a physician in resident training.

Match Day is the annual ritual when senior medical students across the country learn where they will spend their residency, the next phase of the medical education. They’ve spent the past six months or more interviewing with residency programs and then ranking their picks within the National Residency Match Program (NRMP). Match Day is when students find out which programs chose them.

For most students, this day is a big deal because it’s such a defining moment: they hear where they will launch their careers. And for some, it’s the destination that has come after detours before arriving at medicine as a career.

***

As Danielle Kurant opened her envelope, she faced the Livestream camera and told her friend to “Get my room ready. I’m coming to UVA!” That’s University of Virginia where she will specialize in pathology.

***

Lowell Dawson and his wife and three children approached the front to accept his envelope. Dressed in child-size white coats, the three girls caught the hearts of everyone at Skipper’s. With Dad’s cues whispered in her ear, 5-year-old Aniya announced that dad will be an interventional radiologist at USF.

***

The entire second row erupted when couples-match Judith Puckett and Daniel Restrepo were finally called. Family members cheered again when they announced that both were heading to residencies at Massachusetts General Hospital, where Puckett will practice psychiatry and Restrepo will practice internal medicine.

***

Match Day 2014 started on a record high for USF.

Surrounded by USF senior medical students at Skipper’s Smokehouse in Tampa, U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor had just announced she was pushing legislation to increase the number of residency slots in the United States (see related story). What is normally an exciting day just became more exciting.

At noon, Steven Specter, PhD, associate dean for student affairs for the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, began calling student names.

One by one, students came forward to accept an envelope, open it, and read to the crowd of classmates and family where they’re headed. Even medical school faculty came to see where the students end up being matched, including John Sinnott, MD, professor and chair of the Department of Internal Medicine at the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine.

“Internal medicine is delighted with our match,” Dr. Sinnott said. “We have matched superior students to a superior program. Attracting such quality trainees directly benefits our community.”

The student names were in random order, a tradition at USF because each student also brings up a dollar bill and places it in a box. The last student called up wins the cash.

Then, as all 120 students gathered at the foot of the stage so photographers could take group shots, they all cheered in unison, thrilled to have matched.

A USF Match Day first: A FSU senior medical student, Megan McDowell, couples matched with a USF student, Cameron Nereim. The husband and wife will both be conducting their residencies at USF Health Morsani College of Medicine.

Photos by Eric Younghans, USF Health Office of Communications

Imagine sailing through a storm, the kind where the wind and the waves are so strong it takes every ounce of your strength, skill and judgment just to keep the boat from capsizing.

That’s where Dr. Charles (Charly) J. Lockwood is happiest.

“I like sailing long distances, and in conditions other’s might view as less than optimal,” he said. “In fact, I find those conditions exhilarating.”

Academic health itself is now navigating through rough waters – what Dr. Lockwood called “a perfect storm” of pressure across its core missions of education, research and health care. So it’s appropriate that Dr. Lockwood, the new senior vice president of USF Health and dean of the Morsani College of Medicine, thrives on tackling challenges.

“There’s huge tumult and turmoil and we don’t know how it will all play out,” Dr. Lockwood said of today’s health landscape. “On the other hand, what an incredible time to be a doctor. We have imaging and technology that I couldn’t have dreamt of when I started medical school. For example, we can analyze the human genome in 24 hours.”

Dr. Lockwood took the helm at USF Health on May 5, coming here after being the dean of the Ohio State University College of Medicine. He’s also held leadership positions at Yale University and at New York University. A maternal-fetal medicine specialist, Dr. Lockwood is a national leader in women’s health and also has received international recognition for his research and is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies.

“The University of South Florida System is thrilled to welcome an individual of Dr. Lockwood’s national standing to lead USF Health as we continue to provide leading-edge health education and care,” said USF System President Judy Genshaft in announcing Dr. Lockwood’s appointment. “Dr. Lockwood is not only an innovative medical educator, but he is an accomplished researcher and entrepreneurial thinker who will be a leader for our region, state and nation.”

Dr. Lockwood’s management career has been marked by building new programs and restoring faltering ones. That drive to fix, organize and improve is reflected in his approach to caring for patients as well, he said.

“All obstetricians, and perhaps especially high-risk obstetricians, are to a certain extent ‘adrenaline junkies,’ ” he said. “When the situation is most critical, we are brought in to figure things out, organize a cogent management plan and deliver a healthy baby.”

At USF Health, Dr. Lockwood sees an organization that’s already great – but can do even more.

“The passion, the energy and the spirit of innovation that permeate this institution puts it in great position to move ahead,” he said.

USF Health already encourages a “unique constellation of excellence,” he said, with its interprofessional collaboration across medicine, nursing, public health and pharmacy and outstanding hospital partners. He promised to deliver “innovation with value,” seeking out creative solutions focused on critical issues and vetted for high return on investment.

“People often marvel at how optimistic I am about the future of health care,” he said. “But I believe, absolutely and in my heart, that the solutions to our challenges are within our grasp. And I am certain that at USF Health, we can do even more to keep making life better.”

Photo by Eric Younghans, USF Health Communications

June 2, 2014 – USF Health will benefit from the University of South Florida System’s landmark support from state leaders, following Gov. Rick Scott’s signing today of the 2014-15 state budget.

Among the funding support that will advance USF Health initiatives:

-         One of the USF System’s top five legislative priorities this session, the USF Health Heart Institute had $15 million  allocated toward its construction cost.   This $15 million is combined with the nearly $20 million received for the Heart Institute during the previous two legislative sessions.

-         $5 million to be used towards the construction of a new state-of-the-art USF Health Morsani College of Medicine to replace the existing, outdated facility that was constructed in the early 1970s.

-         The USF Health Byrd Alzheimer’s Institute received $1.25 million in support.

-         Renewed funding renewed funding for the Bitner/Plante Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Initiative of Florida,  providing $1 million to comprehensive ALS clinics across the state, including the USF Health ALS Center.

Read the full news release about USF’s successful legislative session.

RELATED STORY:
Funding continues for comprehensive ALS care across Florida

USF Health continues to have a strong presence on the annual Best Doctors in America® survey.

This year, the local list included 118 physicians who currently work at USF Health. Further proof that the advanced health care provided at this region’s only academic health center is practiced and taught by this area’s best.

The annual list for Best Doctors in America is compiled from surveys of physicians asking them who they would go to for treatment in their specialty. The result is a national listing of 53,000 physicians – about 6 percent of this country’s 900,000 physicians.

“USF Health doctors make up the significant proportion of this list, and that speaks volumes for the quality of care that USF Health-trained and practicing physicians provide to families throughout west central Florida,” said Charles Lockwood, MD, senior vice president of USF Health and dean of the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine.

“In today’s changing healthcare landscape, patients are now, more than ever, looking for the best care. And the physicians of USF Health are providing leading-edge health education and care. They are the best doctors and provide care you can’t find anywhere else.”

The following list is of USF Health physicians who currently practice medicine within the nearly three dozen clinical sites, specialty care centers and affiliated hospitals throughout the region. Some physicians earned spots in more than one specialty, so are listed multiple times but counted only once in our totals.

Nearly a year has passed since students in the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine formed nine collegia, a mentor-building practice that sorts new students into various “houses” with students from all years.

The aim was to provide smaller groups that allow students across all years to connect and create positive, supportive environments, resulting in a better college experience and a better likelihood for academic success. They also help with the challenges of a both growing class size and the numerous classroom and clinical locations students visit across their four years of medical school.

Early last fall, the medical students created the nine MCOM collegia. They are called Bourne, Debakey, Farmer, Galen, Hippocrates, Koch, Lower, Osler, and Paracelsus (see images below). Along with the names, the students developed crests that help further define each group.

Since then, the groups have met socially and even competed in several challenges, from sports (such as a combined dodge ball/capture the flag competition) to recipe cook-offs, to costume contests at Halloween, to attending entertainment events around Tampa. Based on success wins or attendance, the collegia added points to their cumulative scores along with the way. The group with the most points at the end of the year was named overall winner and called Bullympics Champion – the inaugural collegium winner is the green team: Paracelsus.

“I congratulate ‘Gang Green’ on being the first annual winners of the Collegia competition,” said Peter Silverman, collegia director (’13-’14). “I’m proud of all the efforts made by the students and those who helped in the founding of Collegia system, specifically Neil Manimala, Vignesh Doraiswamy, and the Office of Student Affairs. I look forward to seeing this program continue to grow in the future and better unite our medical school.”

The Green Team Paracelsus are, from left, Kevin Hansen, Nakul Batra, Preston Ebaugh, Alex Guillaume, Stephanie Grewe, Brad Miller, Ben Ferry, Sara Garcia, Brad Montane, Camila Cabrera, Dhyana Sankar, Cathy Lee, Meg Kubala, Nigel Arruda, Reid Wilson, Holly O’Brien, and Tucker Burr.

“We had a great turnout for the events and challenges,” said Vignesh Doraiswamy, a fourth-year medical student and last year’s administrative vice president on Medical Student Council, which helped coordinate much of the collegia efforts. “Everyone really got into the events. The Halloween costume contest, for example, showed a lot of creativity I hadn’t expected to see.”

The concept of collegia is not new; the practice has long been used at boarding schools and colleges and is gaining momentum at medical schools, including Vanderbilt and the University of Miami.

With barely a year under its belt, the MCOM collegia effort has been a positive thing, Doraiswamy said.

“When we were grouped by our class year, we would still all hung out as a class,” he said. “But now, as part of collegia, it works more vertically, interacting with all of the classes. That really helps break the ice because we’ve already interacted socially as groups of multiple class years. I think that gives us a stronger sense of satisfaction.”

As the American Cancer Society leads the nation in observing the annual Great American Smokeout on Thursday, Nov. 20, the USF College of Public Health and USF Health can celebrate their role in Florida’s fight against big tobacco.

Dr. Phillip J. Marty, COPH professor in the Department of Community and Family Health, associate vice president of USF Health and interim chair of pathology and cell biology in the Morsani College of Medicine, was a COPH professor when he became involved with the state’s anti-tobacco efforts that made world news in the 1990s.

Phillip J. Marty, PhD

“In 1991, I got plugged into the American Cancer Society, and they asked me to serve as chair for a new committee that they were structuring to address the tobacco concerns we had across the state, and of course, it was developing on the national level, as well,” he recalled.

“In Florida, we had the TriAgency Coalition on Smoking or Health comprised of the American Society, the American Heart Association and the American Lung Association.  This group had periodic meetings of which I became a part, and an tobacco action agenda was developed to deal with legislative issues that we felt were important on the state level.”

That alliance resulted in the creation of the ACS Lung Cancer Task Force which began to focus on state policies related to clean indoor air and youth access to tobacco products.  The other members of the TriAgency were also actively supporting this work.

“When I got involved in it,” Marty said, “I thought, ‘Gosh, we’ve got this big tobacco industry, which is a coalition in itself, and they have people all over Tallahassee.  There’s no way we’re going to be able to get much through the legislature.’  We could certainly advocate, and we could increase awareness, but I wasn’t very optimistic about any inroads in legislation.”

Marty became more encouraged, he said, when he realized how many legislators were willing to play David to a Goliath public health threat.

“It was a great issue for legislators,” he said.  “It had public visibility, it was controversial, and their efforts were on the right side of the public’s health.  With a nucleus of people, we began to develop some real interest in improving state policy related to tobacco products.  The Clean Indoor Air Act was already on the books, and what we ended up doing was strengthening it.  Likewise with Youth Access, we added a number of aspects to that bill that helped to protect the kids.”

For the first time, retailers had to secure licenses to sell tobacco products.  They were required to place tobacco behind their counters and enforce a minimum purchaser age of 18, IDs required.  The law also created an educational campaign.  Vending machines, a common source of cigarettes, were removed from public locations.

In 1993, the same year Marty became interim dean of COPH, the ACS sunsetted the  Lung Cancer Task Force, and with collaboration from the TriAgency, replaced it with the Tobacco-Free Florida Coalition, with Marty as its initial chair.  Years later, the Coalition, which held its first training conference in Tampa in 1994, would in turn be discontinued.  The Florida Department of Health eventually created the Tobacco Advisory Council to provide consultation to Florida’s surgeon general on tobacco-related policy and issues.

While the legislative strides had been laudable, the Tobacco-Free Florida Coalition had its biggest victory ahead of it, and it would be a stunner.

Dr. Phil Marty with members of the Tobacco-Free Florida Coalition in 1993. From left: Dr. Joyner Sims, Robert Wilson, Ann Litzenberger, Marty and Marcia Nenno.

“We had about 60 organizations in the state that got behind the Medicaid third-party lawsuit, and they were pretty big advocates across the state to help Gov. Chiles.  We brought him down here to the College of Public Health and had a great student and public rally.  We also brought in Dr. David Kessler, FDA commissioner at that time, to address his efforts to regulate tobacco products through the FDA.”

Marty and colleagues also published articles in numerous state, national and international journals related to their research on tobacco use in Florida.  In 1994, Marty and others had articles published in the Journal of the Florida Medical Association addressing the tobacco control program created by the Coalition, the State Department of Health, the TriAgency, and many other professionals involved in tobacco advocacy work.

At about the same time, Marty was part of a workshop that educated legislators on the public health issues of youth tobacco use and youth access.  That workshop led to the Youth Access to Tobacco legislation eventually passed by the legislature.  Marty also traveled regularly to Tallahassee to address legislative committees on tobacco legislation, a task he really didn’t relish.

Although the focus and setting had changed, the efforts were not new for Marty, who earlier in his career had been involved with anti-tobacco efforts at the University of Arkansas, where he had concentrated on the threat of smokeless tobacco.  In Arkansas at that time, a decline in youth smoking had provided cover for an arguably more insidious threat.

“I thought we were seeing a shift in product,” Marty said.  “So we did some epidemiologic, community-based studies, and found significantly high rates of regular use among children, up to nearly 40 percent.”

True, the kids weren’t smoking.  They were “dipping and chewing,” a behavior that would threaten to snuff more lives under the guise of a safer tobacco alternative.  Marty and colleagues published their findings in the American Journal of Public Health, leading directly to their being invited to a National Institutes of Health Consensus Development Conference.  The conference led to a surgeon general’s “Report on the Health Hazards of Smokeless Tobacco,” and in turn to new regulations aimed at keeping smokeless tobacco away from kids.

“I felt that if there was any time in my career when I might have influenced some important public health policy, it was probably that work.  And I think my work here in Florida with the legislature probably has had some benefit, but you never know,” he said with a laugh.

“It was the work of a lot of people.  Charlie Mahan was the State Health Officer, and when he came down here as dean in 1995, we continued to work with the legislature and with the voluntary health agencies in the public health sector across the state to keep this topic in the forefront.”

The state filed its suit against big tobacco in 1995.  Florida and four other states settled with Liggett Group in 1996.  The following year, the “big four” – R.J. Reynolds, Phillip Morris, Brown and Williamson, and Lorillard – settled with the Sunshine State alone for $11.3 billion, still the largest single-state tobacco settlement.

Predictably, the Goliaths that controlled 97 percent of the tobacco industry admitted nothing, but their industry finally would be financially accountable for the state’s tobacco carnage.  Florida’s settlement was the second state tobacco victory among three other state settlements, with Mississippi being a month ahead of Florida but receiving a much smaller financial pay-out.  A “master settlement” with 46 other states followed a year later.  Nearly half of Florida’s take from its solitary action was subsequently funneled into local education, prevention and intervention programs.

Marty continues his efforts as a member of the state surgeon general’s Tobacco Advisory Council, concentrating on the countless new ways the tobacco industry persists in pushing its product on the public, including hookah pipe use, scores of variously flavored tobaccos, and even a dissolvable tobacco that resembles Tic Tacs.  He also provides administrative supervision to USF Health’s Area Health Education Center.  Much of the work of the Center’s work is focused on tobacco cessation and provides this work through a $2.6-million State Department of Health contract that is funded from the Tobacco Trust Fund that was created by the State tobacco settlement.

“The college played an important role in the early efforts of addressing tobacco use in the state,” Marty said.  “I know there were things going on before we ever got here, but they really picked up steam in the early ’90s and led to things that we benefit from today, like the State Tobacco Trust Fund that helps support one of the very best tobacco prevention programs in the nation.  It’s a legacy that’s pretty significant, and one that our faculty, staff and students in the College contributed to.  It should be a point of pride for all of us.”

Story by David Brothers, College of Public Health.

Tampa, FL (Dec. 12, 2014) – The USF Health Morsani College of Medicine is conducting a clinical trial comparing the effectiveness of a new rapid-onset anticoagulant medication known as Apixaban with the standard anticoagulant drug warfarin in stroke patients with atrial fibrillation, the most common type of abnormal heart rhythm.

The investigator-initiated study is part of a $2.2 million research award from Bristol Myers Squibb awarded to Arthur Labovitz, MD, professor and chair of the Department of Cardiovascular Sciences for the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine and director of Non-Invasive Cardiology at Tampa General Hospital.

USF Health cardiologist Dr. Arthur Labovitz, principal investigator for the AREST study.

Dr. Labovitz is the principal investigator for the study, which is called “Apixaban for Early Prevention of Recurrent Embolic Stroke and Hemorrhagic Transformation,” or AREST. The study is the part of the USF Health Heart Institute, which is co-directed by Dr. Labovitz.

Anticoagulant therapy lowers the risk of strokes caused by embolisms (blood clots) in patients with atrial fibrillation, but its use is associated with potentially deadly bleeding. The new randomized trial will evaluate whether early treatment with Apixaban, an alternative requiring less monitoring and re-dosing than warfarin, can prevent recurrent strokes and reduce the risk of brain bleeding in patients who have suffered a first embolic stroke.

“Current guidelines suggest delaying treatment for patients with atrial fibrillation who have had a stroke, often times for two weeks or more,” Dr. Labovitz said. “This commonly results in poor outcomes in these individuals. The AREST study will more aggressively treat these patients earlier, sometimes within 24 hours of symptoms, in order to improve their outcomes. The protocol tests the hypothesis that one of the newer blood thinners, Apixaban (Eliquis), will be safe and effective in this regard.”

Early research showing that the risk of intracranial bleeding is markedly reduced (50 percent) with the new oral anticoagulant prompted him for initiate and develop the AREST study, Dr. Labovitz said.

In the USF AREST study, researchers will give either warfarin or Apixaban to 120 adult patients admitted to Tampa General Hospital with a transient ischemic attack (TIA) or small to medium ischemic stroke, who also have a history of, or current diagnosis of, atrial fibrillation. Atrial fibrillation is a common cause of stroke.

Patients will be randomly given the medications within 48 hours of stroke symptom onset and then followed for 180 days to compare the incidence of recurrent stroke, death or intracranial hemorrhage.

USF Health’s Dr. Scott Burgin directs the TGH Comprehensive Stroke Center and is a co-investigator for the AREST study.

“This study could answer a question that has long been undefined, and that is the optimal timing for giving anticoagulant medication after having an acute stroke,” said W. Scott Burgin, MD, professor of neurology and chief of the USF Cerebrovascular Division in the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, director of the HFAP Certified Comprehensive Stroke Center at Tampa General Hospital, and a co-investigator for the AREST study.

“This new anticoagulant medication is already showing a greater effectiveness and a higher safety profile so starting the medication sooner than the standard 14 days could improve outcomes for stroke patients.”

Dr. Labovitz (left) and co-investigator Dr. David Rose stand in the heart of the Neurosciences Intensive Care Unit at TGH. The researchers will track stroke patients taking the new anticoagulant for the AREST study.

Co-Investigators for the USF AREST study, who are all USF Health faculty, are Dr. Burgin; David Rose, MD, Assistant Professor of Neurology and medical director, Neuro-ICU at TGH; Sanders Chae, MD, JD, assistant professor of cardiology; Michael Fradley, MD, assistant professor of cardiology; Theresa Beckie, PhD, professor in the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine and the USF College of Nursing; and Ryan Martin, MD, a Fellow in the USF Department of Cardiovascular Sciences.

For more information about the AREST clinical trial at USF Health, please contact Bonnie Kirby, MSN, RN, research administrator for USF Cardiovascular Sciences, at bkirby@health.usf.edu or call (813) 259-8543.

About USF Health

USF Health’s mission is to envision and implement the future of health. It is the partnership of the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, the College of Nursing, the College of Public Health, the College of Pharmacy, the School of Biomedical Sciences and the School of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences; and the USF Physician’s Group. The University of South Florida is a Top 50 research university in total research expenditures among both public and private institutions nationwide, according to the National Science Foundation. For more information, visit www.health.usf.edu

Proposal now advances to Florida Legislature and Governor

Tampa, FL (Feb. 19, 2015) – The Florida Board of Governors today approved the request by the University of South Florida to build its new USF Health medical school and heart institute in downtown Tampa.  The unanimous vote to fund the proposal – $17 million from the state this year as part of a $62-million multi-year request — is a key step in making the vision for a downtown Morsani College of Medicine-Heart Institute a reality.    For more information, visit: http://www.usf.edu/downtown/

The project still requires the approval of the Florida Legislature and Governor Rick Scott.  If it gains that support, the facility would become an anchor for the plan by Tampa Bay Lightning owner and USF partner Jeff Vinik to create an economically thriving downtown waterfront environment where people could live, work and play.

“We are so pleased,” said USF President Judy Genshaft, speaking to media following the vote. “We worked very hard. There’s a lot of academic merit as well as economic merit to moving the medical school and the heart institute downtown.”

“We are very grateful that the Florida Board of Governors recognizes the merits of this project to advance USF’s core academic and research missions, while at the same time supporting our community,” said Dr. Charles Lockwood, senior vice president for USF Health and dean of the Morsani College of Medicine.  “Now we look forward to building additional support with the Legislature and Governor Scott.”

In remarks to the Board before the vote, Dr. Lockwood emphasized that the proposed downtown facility would be built with a combination of state and private funding. “We are leveraging private support to gain a superior facility,” he said.

The new facility would be located at the corner of Meridian Avenue and Channelside Drive, on land donated to the university by Mr. Vinik.

The City of Tampa and Community Redevelopment Agency have committed funding to restore the surrounding street grid and make needed infrastructure improvements to support the area’s redevelopment.

Dr. Charles Lockwood, senior vice president for USF Health and dean of the Morsani College of Medicine, with the medical school leaders, l to r, Jessica Watson, Cathy Lee and Ed Woodward, who attended Thursday’s successful BOG meeting.

“We are thrilled with today’s news from Tallahassee and as a ‘partner’ with the University of South Florida on the project, we thank the Florida Board of Governors for their unanimous vote today,” Vinik said in a statement.  “We look forward to making the Morsani School of Medicine and the accompanying Heart Institute one of the major anchors in our development district.  We envision and embrace the vibrancy that USF and its students, faculty and staff will bring to downtown Tampa. This marks a great step forward.”

“Today, thanks to the support of the Florida Board of Governors, we can say with confidence that the University of South Florida Morsani School of Medicine and the USF Heart Institute will call downtown Tampa home,” Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn said in a statement.

“This is a big, bold collaboration. It takes imagination, public and private financial commitment, and tenacity to see a vision as dynamic as this through to fruition. And, it’s because of the University of South Florida’s continued commitment to academic excellence that building them a new facility with immediate access to Tampa General Hospital and our urban core is the right choice.”

After a delay in the vote by the BOG last month, leadership from USF and USF Health prepared a comprehensive business plan with detailed supporting materials. The plan documents how the proposed facility would maximize the state’s investment in USF’s core mission by leveraging the university’s ability to attract the best and brightest students, the most talented faculty and the country’s leading research scientists.

Science is full of precision and vigilance. But sometimes, there are subtleties that present themselves that get ignored, pushed aside for the drive to stay on task or to stick with the parameters of a hypothesis.

Michele Parry, a student in the Masters of Molecular Medicine Pre-Professional Program at the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, was working for the former when she experienced the latter. It was an “ah ha!” moment that ended up being a key finding for why certain genes of cancer cells mutate, while others don’t.

Michele Parry.

Parry volunteered in the lab of George Blanck, PhD, professor of molecular medicine, who was studying how the size of a gene’s protein coding region affects it’s the likelihood of becoming mutated. While combing over screen after screen of data – spreadsheets, graphs, and countless lists – she spotted a trend: larger genes are more frequently mutated than smaller ones, and in particular genes encoding cytoskeletal proteins.

“She spotted something that I didn’t and, thanks to that, we were able to run with it,” said Dr. Blanck, whose work looks into the nuances of genes and who pushes to fill the pipeline with talented biomedical sciences students.

The gene mutation work warranted publication, for which Parry was first author. It’s unusual for master’s students to be first author of published research, but Parry’s story is a good example of the experiences students in the USF master’s program can have, Dr. Blanck said.

“This is what master’s students in our program can do,” Dr. Blanck said.  “The role of the student in research is becoming more apparent. Nurturing that experience for a student researcher is directly connected to our mission of teaching.”

Titled “Big genes are big mutagen targets: A connection to cancerous, spherical cells?” in the September 2014 edition of Cancer Letters – the publication resulted in funding for new research looking into how the shape of cancer cells (round versus flat) affects drug resistance.

Dr. Blanck and Wade Sexton, MD, associate professor in the USF Department of Oncologic Sciences and a bladder cancer specialist at Moffitt Cancer Center, were awarded the Anna Valentine Award by Moffitt Cancer Center for new work titled “Cytoskeletal protein related coding region mutations in bladder cancer.”

“Cancers cell have unique characteristics and their shape may affect whether or not they are resistant to drugs,” said Parry.

Parry has a bachelor’s degree in biology and wants to be a physician. Specifically, she wants to be an oncologist. She’s driven to understand the difficult science and realizes she’s lucky to pick it up so fast.

“I’m happy that I’m educated and can understand a lot of this,” she said. “And tutoring the master’s students really helps me cement the molecular biology concepts. We’ll see if I feel the same way as a medical student.”

Parry applied to medical school once and was told to strengthen her resume to increase her likelihood of acceptance.

So, strengthen it she did. Since first applying to medical school in 2012, she has graduated with her master’s degree earning a 4.0 GPA, she now works in Dr. Blanck’s lab and has been published as first author, she is an adjunct professor at St. Petersburg College, and she is the graduate teaching assistant for the master’s program.

“This was supposed to be my year off,” she joked. “But I needed to do all of this to strengthen my candidacy and to prove I could excel at the graduate level.”

Was that “ah ha!” moment proof of her abilities? Parry describes it more as a chance to contribute to promising cancer research.

“It makes me feel valuable,” she said, “and gives me a sense of gratitude.”

Photos by Eric Younghans, USF Health Office of Communications

Click here for Match Day 2015 results.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Zb1MF-qua8

There was a new vibe to this year’s Match Day.

After some 25 years of gathering at Skipper’s Smokehouse in north Tampa, the Morsani College of Medicine Class of 2015 opted to move their Match Day closer to downtown Tampa, finding a celebratory spot along the banks of the Hillsborough River and Tampa’s Riverwalk at Ulele, one of Tampa’s hottest dining destinations.

Larger space was needed to hold the largest matching class in the history of the USF medical school. Students, along with their friends and family, filled the green lawn just outside Ulele’s back door to learn where they would spend the next few years of their medical training as physician residents.

This year is also the first Match Day for the charter group of SELECT students, who spent the past two years in clinical rotations in Allentown, PA. Nine SELECT graduates participated in the Match in Allentown and seven returned to Tampa to open their envelopes at Ulele.

In total, 128 USF senior medical students participated Match Day 2015.

“This is a perfect venue for what is probably most important day of our careers,” said. Charles J. Lockwood, senior vice president for USF Health and dean of the Morsani College of Medicine.

Great friends and supporters of USF, Frank and Carol Morsani.

“I’d like to thank Mr. Gonzmart and his family for their generosity and to acknowledge Carol and Frank Morsani. There is no one more dedicated or committed to our school. This incredible experience will change your life. The next three to seven years will be exciting. It’s really where you become physicians. We do our best to lay the foundation, but the actual super structure, the building itself, that will allow you to be a doctor is going to be set over the next several years of your residency training.”

Joking about the obvious low-key theme of USF’s Match Day tradition, he added, “This is my first match day here. I’ve gone from wearing a suit, which I wanted all of you to do, to wearing your jerseys. We know who’s running the place.”

With that, Dr. Lockwood read the first match: Christopher DeClue, who matched with a specialty of diagnostic radiology at the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine.

Match Day is the annual ritual when senior medical students across the country learn where they will spend their residencies, the next phase in their medical education, which can last from three to seven years depending upon the specialty pursued. They’ve spent the past six months or more interviewing with residency programs and then ranking their picks within the National Residency Match Program (NRMP). Match Day is when students find out which programs chose them.

For most students, this day is a defining moment: they find out where they will launch their careers. And for some, Match Day continues paths of determination.

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For Kanchi Batra, the upbeat theme of Match Day is a perfect complement to what she experienced during her four years of medical school: continuous exposure to good people and positive experiences. Kanchi entered medical school with an attitude of optimism. As a member of the SELECT program’s charter class – a program founded for students looking for “ways to shape their own educational experiences” – she set out with high hopes. When she was admitted to the program, Kanchi was quoted as saying “I would like to become one of those players in the future who helps the country, the healthcare system, the community, and that one specific patient.”

Such a positive outlook is in her DNA. In her second year, she started Project Happiness, a task force aimed at increasing morale throughout USF Health.

“The idea was to bring together like-minded people and have them work as a team to bring more cheeriness on campus,” she said. “We wanted our peers to know it’s not all about tests and struggles. There is more to life than that.”

One of the group’s efforts included mounting a large poster board in a study area for students to write what they were most thankful for. Another event was a spring-time carnival day with face painting. Called Hump Day Happiness – because it was on Wednesdays – the event is probably the pinnacle project, Kanchi said, since it was so well received by students.

Four years later her expectations for medical school and for SELECT were met, and even exceeded.

“Being the first SELECT class was a life-changing experience,” Kanchi said. “And the administration was so receptive to feedback from us so they could make the program better. My experience was eye opening. The faculty up here (in Allentown) really wanted to make sure we were ready for residency and to work in teams, which is what medicine is all about now.”

Kanchi Batra, a charter student in the USF SELECT MD program, will be doing her residency in internal medicine at Kaiser Permanente San Francisco Medical Center.

For Match Day, Kanchi looked forward to matching in an internal medicine program with hopes of a career in critical care. Her hard work and optimism were rewarded; she matched in internal medicine at Kaiser Permanente San Francisco Medical Center.

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Seeing gaps that prevent success drives Yasir Abunamous to improve things. Following the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, he and a group of like-minded friends realized that relief organizations needed to recruit younger people into relief efforts.

“Campaigning to put younger people on the frontline of relief projects can inject raw optimism into the effort,” he said.

So with that in mind, he helped start Muslims Without Borders (now United Muslim Relief), a completely student-led – therefore young – relief organization.

And when he saw firsthand in Haiti that the relief efforts didn’t have a strong dental care component, he helped develop a branch of Muslims Without Borders that focuses on dental care, the first American Muslim dental relief group.

That same drive to improve brought Yasir to USF’s SELECT program, a leadership track whose students commit to “positively changing medicine” and to “transform health care and improve the health of communities.”

A perfect fit.

“They took a huge chance on us,” he said. “And we took a chance on a new program that would likely have challenges along the way. But they invested enormous resources in us and the program, and empowered us with a ton of new content and skills. They taught us to enhance our relationships with patients and challenged us to build something new and become true stakeholders. I wouldn’t trade it.”

It was during his two-year time in Lehigh Valley Health Network that his drive to improve presented itself again. Yasir helped design a pilot study to measure the number of homeless people within the LVHN patient population, a number that hadn’t been tracked before but could help better define access to health care and lead to cost savings because of reduced visits to the emergency room. He calls this “a critical data point to better allocate care and resources to this population.”

To improve, again.

SELECT student Yasir Abunamous reads his match in Allentown.

Yasir is hoping to match into a family medicine residency. And he did, at Lehigh Valley Health Network in Allentown, PA. 

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In addition to having the desire to help care for people, Rachael King found another common thread among many of her classmates: they were from various places in the Caribbean, just like she was. Her family is from Jamaica.

Seeing an opportunity to blend a passion for medicine with a compassion for Caribbean populations, she formed the Caribbean Outreach through Medical Missions Association. The student-run organization takes annual  trips in association with Caribbean Community Association to provide much-needed health care to impoverished areas of the Caribbean.

“Our first goal was to educate fellow students about the people in need of quality medical care throughout the Caribbean,” Rachael said. “Each population is quite different and requires different approaches. There is a different exposure and a different world in each place. Some have a bigger focus on AIDs, others diabetes or hypertension. The key is to do something.”

The effort is one of several proud moments of outreach Rachael has experienced while attending medical school at USF.

Another was when she was on USF’s MD Program Admissions Committee to provide input about potential USF medical students. The process helped validate her own journey, she said.

“It’s really gratifying to help applicants become students,” she said. “I was in that seat once and someone saw something in me beyond scores and grades. I’ve succeeded at USF because the community here has nurtured me.  So I try to look for those same qualities in others who might also succeed.”

Her work at the national level as a member of the Governing Council of the American Medical Association’s Minority Affairs Section is another proud moment. In that role, she helped promote the Doctors Back to School program that encourages physicians to connect with local high schools in low-income areas to expose young students to opportunities for becoming physicians.

Locally, similar efforts are playing out at King’s Kids Academy for Health Sciences for elementary students and Tampa Bay Tech for high schoolers.

“A lot of times, it’s about knowing there’s an option,” Rachael said. “Getting young kids exposed to doctors says to them ‘hey, you can do this, too.’ It empowers kids to set goals and make them aim for success.”

Rachael King will be doing her internal medicine residency at the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Chicago.

So that she can continue to reach populations in need of quality primary care, Rachael vied for a residency slot in internal medicine. She found out March 20 that she’ll be moving to Chicago after graduation to start an internal medicine residency at the University of Illinois College of Medicine.

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Always an active mentor and tutor to those in need of extra help, Jason Ricciuti took that initiative a step further when he started Tampa Bay Street Medicine (a local chapter of a national effort) to help provide basic medical care to the homeless in Tampa.

“A couple of us students started it as a service learning project,” he said. “We contacted other medical schools that are doing it, worked with our Student Affairs Office for approvals, went to a conference about it, recruited other USF students, got a grant, and started the chapter last April.”

Jason and fellow students worked with local organizations to help identify those in need and also connected with social service professionals and partnered with a group to gain access to a local community center that gave the patients access to some basic needs, such as laundry facilities.

The group of about 10 students hits the streets every other Friday and includes a mix of upperclassmen students who help guide first- and second-year students, as well as one to two supervising faculty physicians or physician assistants. And then they walk.

“We usually are around downtown Tampa and the Tampa Heights areas,” he said. “Over time, people have gotten to know us and expect us when we come around again or are waiting there so we can follow up on their conditions.”

Much of what the team sees are chronic problems, like cough and colds, skin problems, allergies problems, acid reflux. They dole out over-the-counter medications and wound care supplies in addition to health education. And the impact is good: typically, they see about 20 people with medical conditions, even more when you count the ongoing concerns.

Before Jason started medical school and the Tampa Bay Street Medicine, he spent two years with the AmeriCorps’ program City Year tutoring middle and high school students in Rhode Island and in Miami. During his first year of medical school, he also helped found Explorers Mentoring at USF.

“I feel like it’s an obligation to serve,” Jason said. “I certainly benefitted from other people’s support and it made a difference to me. It’s good to help each other and realize you’re not alone. You are where you are because of someone else. You can never forget that.”

Jason Ricciuti and fiance Dr. Asha Balakrishnan, a current USF resident.

For Match Day, Jason chose a residency in obstetrics and gynecology. He matched in ob/gyn at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

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A sunny day greeted everyone at Ulele, the new Match Day venue. Ulele is named for the daughter of a legendary Native American chief and is located on the site of a former City of Tampa Water Works building, next to the new Water Works Park. The old brick mixed with the newness of neighboring buildings and the Tampa Riverwalk along the Hillsborough River give the event a traditional yet modern urban feel.

Following Dr. Lockwood’s announcement of the first match at noon, Kira Zwygart, MD, associate dean for student affairs for the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, continued calling student names.

One by one, students came forward to accept an envelope, open it, and read to the crowd of classmates and family where they’re headed.

USF SELECT students matching in Allentown, PA. Photo courtesy of LVHN.

Several couples opened their envelopes at the same time to learn where they would be going, together. One couple represented two medical schools: Katherine Diaz from Texas Tech joined her partner Robert Lorch from MCOM at Ulele to learn they will be doing their residencies at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.

The student names were called in random order, a tradition at USF because each student called up drops a dollar bill in a box. The last student called to open his or her Match envelope wins the cash. This year that winning student was Danielle Kamis, who matched in psychiatry at Stanford University.

Danielle Kamis collects her prize — the Match box filled with cash.

Then the crowd of newly matched students gathered together for what might be their last photo as a class. Everyone cheered in unison, thrilled to have matched.

From the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, 39 students (30%) are staying at USF; 52 (41%) are staying in Florida; and 64 students (50%) chose primary care as their specialty (internal medicine, family medicine, and pediatrics).

Click here for more details about the nationwide Match from the Association of American Medical Colleges. 

Video by Sandra Roa and photos by Eric Younghans, USF Health Office of Communications

As 108 second-year medical students promised in unison to always have empathy and respect for their patients, the oath marked the biggest turning point in their four years of medical school – their transition from what has been primarily classroom learning of their second year to more clinical and hospital settings where they will interact with patients in their third year.

Clinicians Ceremony celebrating the transition from academic to clinical education.

The annual Student Clinician Ceremony for Morsani College of Medicine students signifies the next step in their medical education. This year’s event was held May 8 in the USF School of Music Concert Hall. The group of 108 represented a portion of the 175 student in the Class of 2017.

Messages for these new third-year students focused on caring, listening, and learning.  Providing the Humanism and Leadership in Medicine address was Stephen Palmieri. The keynote speaker was Steven Specter, PhD, associate dean for MCOM Alumni Relations and Advancement, who offered 10 steps for success for this group to prepare them for “the greatest learning curve of your life.”

And current third-year medical student Casey Nagel provided insight in the year ahead for the group with the Humanism and Excellence in Teaching address.

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In addition, several awards were presented, including teaching awards for five resident physicians for their exceptional effort for inspiring students to be more. They are Miriah Gillispie, MD (primary care), Lowell Dawson, MD (internal medicine), Christina Paidas-Teefey, MD (maternal newborn/inpatient pediatrics), Eihab Akary, MD (general surgery), and Kristie Jetter, MD (psychiatry and neurology).

The awards are provided by the Arnold P. Gold Foundation, which also provides a grant that supports the Clinicians Ceremony.

Students selected their classmate Shelby Register to receive the Student Teacher Award.

Shelby Register earns the Student Teacher Award.

And 27 students were acknowledged for outstanding efforts across their first two years of medical school, exhibiting ‘sustained excellence’ throughout their coursework. While 19 were honored at the ceremony in Tampa, eight students were honored at Lehigh Valley Health Network in Allentown, PA, as part of the SELECT program.

The 19 students in Tampa included Kyle Achors, Robert Ackerman, Himanshu Ajrawat, Nigel Arruda, Matthew Beattie, Luis Gonzalez, Michael Hernandez, Michelle Hummel, Brennan Hyler, Edward Keshishian, Thuy-Quynh Le, Mayssan Muftah, Holly O´Brien, Sabrina Prabakaran, George Richard, Shea Taylor, Cady Welch, Matthew Witzel and Yumeng Zhang.

The eight students in Allentown included Steven Baltic, Carly Crowder,Tiana Dalton, Thanhnga Doan, Alexander Guillaume, Matthew Ho, Kathleen McFadden and Andrew Steele.

Dr. Bryan Bognar.

Bryan Bognar, MD, MPH, vice dean for MCOM Educational Affairs, reminded the Class of 2017 that their third year would be a transformative one.

“It’s an amazing journey,” Dr. Bognar said. “Be thankful for it.”

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Photos by Eric Younghans, USF Health Office of Communications

For 26 years, Willie Mitchell has helped thousands of medical students navigate through medical school.

He is the first person visitors see in the Office of Student Affairs for the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine (MCOM).

He plays important roles in key events for medical students, from orientations as they begin freshmen year, to Clinician Ceremonies as they transition to third year, to Match Days as they learn where they will be resident physicians, and to Commencement Ceremonies as they reach the culmination of their efforts and officially become doctors of medicine.

Willie Mitchell is retiring after 38 years at USF, 26 of which were on staff in the MCOM Student Affairs Office.

And he is forever a positive force for USF Health, notorious for his smile, laugh, and calming demeanor, not to mention his extensive collection of Marilyn Monroe memorabilia.

On June 26, Willie Mitchell will step out of those roles and retire.

“We’ve developed a family atmosphere in Student Affairs, a place for every situation – fun or tough times – for us and for students,” Mitchell said. “It’s a place of calm, peace and family. We still meet, eat lunch together, and gossip, just like a family.”

Mitchell joined USF in 1977 and the MCOM Office of Student Affairs in 1993, giving him more than 38 years of fond memories. Many of those stories revolve around changes taking place on campus and within the Morsani College of Medicine, including personalities of each entering class of freshman.

How do today’s medical students differ from those of two decades ago? Mitchell, who is a staff assistant in the MCOM Office of Student Affairs, sums it up this way: While all students understand the impact they will have as physicians, today’s medical students seem to be “more appreciative for being able to be a physician,” he said. “They’re taking the humility part another step further and are getting to know better the person, the patient and the classmate.”

In total, Mitchell has helped multiple generations of medical students experience the key milestones of their four years at MCOM. Of all events, Mitchell doesn’t hesitate to say that Match Day is his favorite. The annual rite of passage is when senior medical students across the country find out simultaneously where they will conduct their medical residencies, the next step in their medical education. The USF MCOM Office of Student Affairs coordinates the entire event for USF medical students, an effort that includes weeks of planning.

“Match Day is my favorite because I like to see the medical students with their families,” he said. “And it’s an event where everybody works so well together to make it happen.”

Mitchell has also witnessed vast changes to facilities at USF Health, saying he has always been impressed by USF’s growth and the University’s efforts to constantly build space for more and more students, including those in MCOM.

“The changes to the study spaces for medical students, and the new people joining in, like Pharmacy, Physical Therapy and SELECT, has improved us and made us better,” he said.

For Mitchell, students always come first and he has always been amazed at their ambition and talents. To gain a slight sense of what they experience as medical students, Mitchell said he would participate in Dr. Lois Nixon’s annual summer reading and movie list for medical students and the USF Health community at large.

“I wanted to watch what they’re watching and read what they’re reading,” he said.

That effort to put students first also earned him an Outstanding Staff Award and the USF-Gabor Employee of the Year Award, both in 1999.

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Mitchell is father to three grown boys: Damien, 18; Javon, 19; and Eric, 21. He is active in church, acting as youth director. Once retired, he said he hopes to become involved with more programs, fundraising efforts and working with the elderly.

And, he will continue exercising, a pastime he enjoys but was recently urged to increase when he had a medical scare that pushed him closer toward diabetes. That is why some of his first activities in retirement will revolve around vegetable gardening so he can continue his good eating habits.

“One of my first things to do is to renew my library card so I can read more about growing vegetables,” he said. “My diet now has so many more vegetables in it but I want to grow my own. I’m going to start with collards, tomatoes and mangos, and go from there.”

He also plans to take classes and workshops to bolster his farming efforts, starting with a workshop on building his own rain barrel.

Walking into retirement brings an intensity of mixed emotions for Mitchell. The people in the MCOM Office of Student Affairs have had tremendous impact on his life, he said.

“They are wonderful people to work with,” he said. “I’ve been blessed to work with some outstanding people who truly care about students, about the school. There is lots of love in this group and that will carry me for quite a while.”

While Mitchell has such fond words for USF, there are lots of people who know and love him in return. Here are words of gratitude and fond memories from several MCOM staff and faculty who have worked with Willie Mitchell over these past decades.

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“I remember as a student, it was always comforting to see Willie’s smiling face upon entering the Office of Student Affairs.  We always knew he would help us with anything we needed, even if it might have been insignificant or tedious.  Now that I am a part of the office of Student Affairs, it has been great to know that today’s students have the same thoughtful and caring resource to help them.”

Kira Zwygart, MD, (Class of 1998) Associate Professor of Medicine and Associate Dean of MCOM Office of Student Affairs.

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“Willie Mitchell and I worked together in Student Affairs for 13 years.  Every day he brought a warm and friendly attitude to work, thus I referred to him as Mr. Sunshine.  He was the first person everyone encountered upon entering the Student Affairs Offices and he made each person feel welcomed and important.  Willie Mitchell is as fine a man as any who has worked at USF.”

Steven Specter, PhD, Associate Dean for MCOM Alumni Relations and Advancement.

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“I’ve never met anyone who has tried to improve himself and to help an institution more than Willie. It was wonderful to see him progress in his work and provide such real value to the College. And he had real impact on the students. Carolyn and I attend alumni reunions and students ask how a lot of people are doing and Willie is always at the top of the list. He really is a truly decent human being.”

Greg Nicolosi, PhD, retired USF Professor of Physiology, former Executive Associate Vice President and Interim Dean/Vice President for the USF College of Medicine and Health Sciences Center, and current member of the USF MCOM Alumni Society Board.

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“I was extremely fortunate to be able to hire Willie in our Student Affairs Office. He wasn’t hired initially to be the frontline person but it became crystal clear very quickly that his talents were with interacting with people and that’s where he needed to be. He is an incredible person. For years he took care of his mother and raised those boys and still he found time to help other people. I remember seeing a stack of brand new shoes in boxes and bags and hearing him say he was buying them for a family he met at his bus stop who didn’t have any shoes for the children. That’s who Willie is – always thinking of others.”

Carolyn Nicolosi, former Assistant Dean of Student Affairs in the USF College of Medicine and current member of the USF MCOM Alumni Society Board.

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“I remember when I was a first-year student meandering through orientation week, wide-eyed and lost as I stumbled into our Student Affairs office. Willie was the first person I saw as I came up to the front desk.  His smiling face has put countless other students like me at ease as they were finding their way through the tumult of medical school.  Willie makes MCOM feel more like home for our students.  He’s a testament to the fact that sometimes the cure to what’s ailing you is a warm smile and a gentle voice telling you that you need to focus on staying well and that everything really is going to be okay.  All students at our school can look to Willie for inspiration in his unending generosity of support. The MCOM family will deeply miss him, and the student body will do all we can to live truly to the legacy of kindness and service that he’s imparting in our community. There were 26 years of him leaving his mark on every student that walks past his desk to the murky waters beyond.  After all that, there’s a little bit of Willie Mitchell in every doctor’s office, operating room, or hospital ward of the MCOM graduate. The world is one thousand-fold better because of that legacy.”

Neil J. Manimala, MS4, Medical Student Council President.

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“I can’t imagine the student affairs office without him there. Willie was one of the first people I interacted with when I started medical school at USF. Over the 4 years of medical school, and intermittently in the years since, I have never once stepped into the student affairs office without seeing him with a big smile on his face — his positive energy is practically infectious. He is one of those unique people that has the ability to make you feel really good about yourself and brighten your day with nothing more than a caring ‘hello’ and his trademark smile. I am not sure that I could remember the specifics of a conversation with Willie, but I will never forget how those conversations always left me feeling more calm, especially during those high stress exam times. Willie always seemed to genuinely care about the medical students and was always there to help out if you needed anything.”

Nishit S. Patel, MD, (Class of 2010) Assistant Professor, Associate Program Director, and Associate Director of Clinical Research for the USF Department of Dermatology and Cutaneous Surgery.

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“Willie Mitchell is an amazing individual and it has been a blessing and honor to have worked with him.  He is my dear friend and colleague and I can’t even imagine Student Affairs without him.  His smile and kind disposition define our office.  He has served the students and the university for 38 selfless years and he and his kind and gentle disposition will be missed. He’s definitely leaving some really big shoes to fill.”

Phyllis Ridgeway, Office Manager, MCOM Office of Student Affairs.

Photos by Eric Younghans, USF Health Office of Communications

Three words: Safe. Team. Commit. That’s the message Charles Paidas, MD, urged more than 230 new resident physicians to take away from their recent all-day orientation, their official welcome to the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine (MCOM).

“If you remember nothing else about the next 15 minutes, I want you to remember those words,” said Dr. Paidas, professor of surgery and vice dean for Clinical Affairs and Graduate Medical Education at MCOM. “These are your goals for your residency. Graduate as a safe doctor, be able to work in a team, and commit to your obligations of lifelong learning, your patients your peers and students, your department, and the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine.”

The June 30 orientation at the USF Alumni Center and was likely be the only time the entire group will be in the same room together. The next day – July 1, the national start to residency training programs – the new-to-USF residents were deployed to the many clinical facilities and hospitals throughout the Tampa Bay area affiliated with the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine.

This year’s entering group includes 238 physicians, with 147 residents and 91 fellows. Of the residents, about half are entering their first year of residency. Called PGY1s (post graduate year 1), these physicians are experiencing the first day of their medical careers – they just graduated from medical school a few months ago. The other incoming residents are beginning the next step in their residencies, transitioning to a narrower focus within their specialty. Fellows have finished their residencies and are now conducting additional, more specialized training within their specialty. Fellowships are typically highly competitive positions in superior programs. While most of the new resident physicians are from MCOM (40), the rest are graduates of schools and programs from farther afield, including China, Colombia, Taiwan, Bangladesh, Thailand, and Mexico, among others.

The annual influx of new residents and fellows marks a significant moment for these doctors, but probably a bit more so for the PGY1s. It’s when the paradigm shifts, Dr. Paidas said.

“As a medical student, decision making was ‘virtual’ and practiced in the shadows of the care team,” he said. “Now, the responsibility shifts to the intern, or first-year resident. Although not completely in charge, the first-year resident has graded responsibility and team trust is earned and rewarded with more responsibility. The first-year is all about learning the drill.

“And it’s the very first time an office or hospital patient looks at you as one of their docs, begins to develop a relationship with you, and trusts what you say.”

One such resident is Lindsey Ryan, MD, a PGY1 from the University of Louisville in Kentucky. Her first day included making early rounds at Tampa General Hospital with a team from Pediatric Surgery.

Dr. Ryan, who is specializing in otolaryngology, said that USF’s program rose above others when she was interviewing residency programs.

“On interview day, you look for a program you will fit into,” Dr. Ryan said. “That’s a big thing. There are great programs all over, but it’s that extra piece you look for. I loved the program and the faculty here and I felt right at home.”

Fitting right in on rounds at TGH, Dr. Ryan walked in and out of pediatric patient rooms with the health care team that included more seasoned residents, a chief resident, an attending physician, a nurse practitioner, and a USF medical student. These are the first patients she is seeing as a physician, a realization she doesn’t miss.

“I’m having a very good day,” she said.

USF’s residency program has more than 80 residency and fellowship training programs with more than 700 trainees. The program is considered strong, Dr. Paidas said.

“It’s all about the depth and breadth of patient populations,” he said. “The USF affiliates attract a wealth of patients and provide the substrate for the maturation of the resident. Tampa Bay has historically been an attractive geographic locale. In addition, we have a superb clinical faculty able to balance their work with patient care and education. Think about it. Our affiliates include the Number One ranked hospital in the State, level 1 Pediatric and Adult trauma Center, Comprehensive Cancer Center, two VA’s, Family Health Clinics. Our affiliates give us an unbelievable depth of patients.”

This year’s residents and fellows totaled 238. About 45% are starting at Tampa General Hospital, 25% at the Haley VA Hospital, 15% at Moffitt Cancer Center, and the remaining are at various other sites. Internal medicine welcomed the largest number of new residents and fellows, with 73, followed by surgery, with 25.

Here is a breakdown of the entire group:

Dermatology, 5

Emergency Medicine, 10

Family Medicine, 10

Cardiology, 7

Internal Medicine, 73

Medicine / Pediatrics, 6

Neurology, 18

Neurosurgery, 4

Obstetrics & Gynecology, 7

Ophthalmology, 5

Orthopaedics, 7

Otolaryngology, 3

Pathology, 8

Pediatrics, 15

Preventive/Occupational Medicine, 2

Psychiatry, 13

Radiology,20

Surgery, 25

Story by Sarah Worth, and photos by Sandra C. Roa, USF Health Office of Communications. 

Across 41 years, Allan Goldman, MD, has treated patients, taught and advised students and residents, chaired the Department of Internal Medicine, directed Graduate Medical Education, connected with alumni, taught environmental and occupational health to public health students, and been a mentor and leader to teams of staff and colleagues across the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine.

“I extend a very special thank you for passing on excellence to so many generations of our students, residents and fellows to whom you have been a tireless mentor, and for bolstering scholarship funding to support deserving medical students,” said Charles J. Lockwood, MD, MHCM, senior vice president for USF Health and dean of the Morsani College of Medicine.

“Congratulations on a job well done and a retirement well deserved.”

Dr. Allan Goldman.

Dr. Goldman joined USF in the summer of 1974. MCOM’s founding internal medicine chair Roy H. Behnke, MD, recruited him to direct the College’s first Division of Pulmonary Disease in the Department of Internal Medicine and as chief of the pulmonary section at the James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital. Dr. Goldman directed the division for 23 years.

Dr. Goldman also set up a pulmonary disease training program for residents. For years, most practicing pulmonologists in Tampa were graduates from the USF program, since USF had the only such training program in the region.

In 1994, following Dr. Behnke’s retirement, Dr. Goldman was named interim chair and later took the job fulltime. He holds a joint appointment as professor in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, College of Public Health.

Dr. Goldman provided some of the earliest collaborations with Tampa General Hospital, helping lay the foundation for TGH becoming USF’s primary teaching hospital. He also was the founding director of the Thoracic Oncology and Lung Cancer Center at Moffitt Cancer Center.

In his four decades at USF, Dr. Goldman had a consistent and lasting impact on the growth of the Morsani College of Medicine and USF Health.

“Allan is a man of integrity, compassion and his word,” said Richard F. Lockey MD, FACP, professor and director of the Division of Allergy and Immunology in the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine and holder of the Joy McCann Culverhouse Chair of Allergy and Immunology.

“He is a physician’s physician, a person with whom you would trust as a family member. Allan is a life-long friend, a person with the utmost integrity.  He has always promoted what is best for the patient and for USF.”

Among the events planned to honor Dr. Goldman, there was a thank-you video created and a reception at CAMLS July 22 was hosted and included many familiar faces: fellow chairs, division directors, MCOM alumni, colleagues, staff, friends and family.

Dr. John Sinnott (left) and Dr. Charles Lockwood (right) at the celebration for Dr. Goldman at CAMLS.

Dr. Lockwood helped set the congratulatory tone of the evening, offering heartfelt thanks to Dr. Goldman for providing strong leadership across four institutions: USF Health, Tampa General Hospital, Haley VA Hospital and Moffitt Cancer Center and throughout the community.

“His life’s work has been marked by the pursuit of excellence,” Dr. Lockwood said.

Current Department of Internal Medicine Chair John Sinnott, MD, reflected on how he was mentored by Dr. Goldman as an intern and resident.

“I learned so much from the gentle, intelligent way he taught me about caring for patients,” Dr. Sinnott said. “In the same way, he treated the nurses, respiratory therapists and all the hospital staff with dignity… I realized whenever I rounded with Dr. Goldman as a resident that he was always happy.  The pleasure he took in his job is how we should all approach medicine.”

Guests described Dr. Goldman as being a constant learner and educator, fully engaged in life, calm and “unflappable.”

Building on those, Neil Fenske, MD, chair of the Department of Dermatology and Cutaneous Surgery, said with a laugh, “I only saw Allan Goldman stressed one time – and that was when the Dean said he was going to take the Dermatology Department away from Internal Medicine and make it a department.”

Charles Paidas, MD, vice dean for Clinical Affairs and Graduate Medical Education at MCOM, reminded guests of the breadth of Dr. Goldman’s impact.

“So many physicians, nurses and other health care professionals working in our affiliate hospitals were mentored by him in some way throughout his career,” Dr. Paidas said. “I have every intention of continuing to consult with Dr. Goldman frequently.”

Mr. and Mrs. Goldman.

Dr. Goldman then thanked everyone for the kind words.

“I survived five deans as division director and five deans as chair – that may be a record,” Dr. Goldman said. “I always learned something from each of them. Over the years, our (College of Medicine) goal became not only to become a first-class educational institution for the community, but also to focus on good patient care and research….. Now with leaders like Dr. Lockwood and Dr. Sinnott, the institution is poised for tremendous growth and excellence in all those areas.”

Dr. Phil Marty, Dr. Allan Goldman and Dr. Richard Lockey.

Dr. Allan Goldman with Dr. Jay Wolfson.

There was also a celebration for Dr. Goldman on the main campus that drew more friends and colleagues.

Dr. Bryan Bognar and Dr. David Solomon applaud Dr. Goldman at the celebration on campus in the USF Health Rotunda.

Dr. and Mrs. Worth Boyce and Dr. Allan Goldman.

Staff and colleagues presented Dr. Goldman with a thank you gift, focusing on golf, of course.

The golf theme continued with a creative cake.

Dr. Goldman earned his medical degree from the University of Minnesota Medical School and conducted an internship at the Wadsworth VA Hospital in Los Angeles, CA, a residency in internal medicine at Brooke General Hospital in San Antonio, TX, and a fellowship in pulmonary disease at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC.

He is board certified in internal medicine, pulmonary disease and critical care medicine, has participated in and/or lead more than 100 committees, programs and organizations, has been the editor, reviewer and consultant for dozens of journals, and has authored more than 220 publications.

Photos by Eric Younghans, USF Health Office of Communications

Nearly a year has passed since students in the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine formed nine collegia, a mentor-building practice that sorts new students into various “houses” with students from all years.

The aim was to provide smaller groups that allow students across all years to connect and create positive, supportive environments, resulting in a better college experience and a better likelihood for academic success. They also help with the challenges of a both growing class size and the numerous classroom and clinical locations students visit across their four years of medical school.

Early last fall, the medical students created the nine MCOM collegia. They are called Bourne, Debakey, Farmer, Galen, Hippocrates, Koch, Lower, Osler, and Paracelsus (see images below). Along with the names, the students developed crests that help further define each group.

Since then, the groups have met socially and even competed in several challenges, from sports (such as a combined dodge ball/capture the flag competition) to recipe cook-offs, to costume contests at Halloween, to attending entertainment events around Tampa. Based on success wins or attendance, the collegia added points to their cumulative scores along with the way. The group with the most points at the end of the year was named overall winner and called Bullympics Champion – the inaugural collegium winner is the green team: Paracelsus.

“I congratulate ‘Gang Green’ on being the first annual winners of the Collegia competition,” said Peter Silverman, collegia director (’13-’14). “I’m proud of all the efforts made by the students and those who helped in the founding of Collegia system, specifically Neil Manimala, Vignesh Doraiswamy, and the Office of Student Affairs. I look forward to seeing this program continue to grow in the future and better unite our medical school.”

The Green Team Paracelsus are, from left, Kevin Hansen, Nakul Batra, Preston Ebaugh, Alex Guillaume, Stephanie Grewe, Brad Miller, Ben Ferry, Sara Garcia, Brad Montane, Camila Cabrera, Dhyana Sankar, Cathy Lee, Meg Kubala, Nigel Arruda, Reid Wilson, Holly O’Brien, and Tucker Burr.

“We had a great turnout for the events and challenges,” said Vignesh Doraiswamy, a fourth-year medical student and last year’s administrative vice president on Medical Student Council, which helped coordinate much of the collegia efforts. “Everyone really got into the events. The Halloween costume contest, for example, showed a lot of creativity I hadn’t expected to see.”

The concept of collegia is not new; the practice has long been used at boarding schools and colleges and is gaining momentum at medical schools, including Vanderbilt and the University of Miami.

With barely a year under its belt, the MCOM collegia effort has been a positive thing, Doraiswamy said.

“When we were grouped by our class year, we would still all hung out as a class,” he said. “But now, as part of collegia, it works more vertically, interacting with all of the classes. That really helps break the ice because we’ve already interacted socially as groups of multiple class years. I think that gives us a stronger sense of satisfaction.”

As the American Cancer Society leads the nation in observing the annual Great American Smokeout on Thursday, Nov. 20, the USF College of Public Health and USF Health can celebrate their role in Florida’s fight against big tobacco.

Dr. Phillip J. Marty, COPH professor in the Department of Community and Family Health, associate vice president of USF Health and interim chair of pathology and cell biology in the Morsani College of Medicine, was a COPH professor when he became involved with the state’s anti-tobacco efforts that made world news in the 1990s.

Phillip J. Marty, PhD

“In 1991, I got plugged into the American Cancer Society, and they asked me to serve as chair for a new committee that they were structuring to address the tobacco concerns we had across the state, and of course, it was developing on the national level, as well,” he recalled.

“In Florida, we had the TriAgency Coalition on Smoking or Health comprised of the American Society, the American Heart Association and the American Lung Association.  This group had periodic meetings of which I became a part, and an tobacco action agenda was developed to deal with legislative issues that we felt were important on the state level.”

That alliance resulted in the creation of the ACS Lung Cancer Task Force which began to focus on state policies related to clean indoor air and youth access to tobacco products.  The other members of the TriAgency were also actively supporting this work.

“When I got involved in it,” Marty said, “I thought, ‘Gosh, we’ve got this big tobacco industry, which is a coalition in itself, and they have people all over Tallahassee.  There’s no way we’re going to be able to get much through the legislature.’  We could certainly advocate, and we could increase awareness, but I wasn’t very optimistic about any inroads in legislation.”

Marty became more encouraged, he said, when he realized how many legislators were willing to play David to a Goliath public health threat.

“It was a great issue for legislators,” he said.  “It had public visibility, it was controversial, and their efforts were on the right side of the public’s health.  With a nucleus of people, we began to develop some real interest in improving state policy related to tobacco products.  The Clean Indoor Air Act was already on the books, and what we ended up doing was strengthening it.  Likewise with Youth Access, we added a number of aspects to that bill that helped to protect the kids.”

For the first time, retailers had to secure licenses to sell tobacco products.  They were required to place tobacco behind their counters and enforce a minimum purchaser age of 18, IDs required.  The law also created an educational campaign.  Vending machines, a common source of cigarettes, were removed from public locations.

In 1993, the same year Marty became interim dean of COPH, the ACS sunsetted the  Lung Cancer Task Force, and with collaboration from the TriAgency, replaced it with the Tobacco-Free Florida Coalition, with Marty as its initial chair.  Years later, the Coalition, which held its first training conference in Tampa in 1994, would in turn be discontinued.  The Florida Department of Health eventually created the Tobacco Advisory Council to provide consultation to Florida’s surgeon general on tobacco-related policy and issues.

While the legislative strides had been laudable, the Tobacco-Free Florida Coalition had its biggest victory ahead of it, and it would be a stunner.

Dr. Phil Marty with members of the Tobacco-Free Florida Coalition in 1993. From left: Dr. Joyner Sims, Robert Wilson, Ann Litzenberger, Marty and Marcia Nenno.

“We had about 60 organizations in the state that got behind the Medicaid third-party lawsuit, and they were pretty big advocates across the state to help Gov. Chiles.  We brought him down here to the College of Public Health and had a great student and public rally.  We also brought in Dr. David Kessler, FDA commissioner at that time, to address his efforts to regulate tobacco products through the FDA.”

Marty and colleagues also published articles in numerous state, national and international journals related to their research on tobacco use in Florida.  In 1994, Marty and others had articles published in the Journal of the Florida Medical Association addressing the tobacco control program created by the Coalition, the State Department of Health, the TriAgency, and many other professionals involved in tobacco advocacy work.

At about the same time, Marty was part of a workshop that educated legislators on the public health issues of youth tobacco use and youth access.  That workshop led to the Youth Access to Tobacco legislation eventually passed by the legislature.  Marty also traveled regularly to Tallahassee to address legislative committees on tobacco legislation, a task he really didn’t relish.

Although the focus and setting had changed, the efforts were not new for Marty, who earlier in his career had been involved with anti-tobacco efforts at the University of Arkansas, where he had concentrated on the threat of smokeless tobacco.  In Arkansas at that time, a decline in youth smoking had provided cover for an arguably more insidious threat.

“I thought we were seeing a shift in product,” Marty said.  “So we did some epidemiologic, community-based studies, and found significantly high rates of regular use among children, up to nearly 40 percent.”

True, the kids weren’t smoking.  They were “dipping and chewing,” a behavior that would threaten to snuff more lives under the guise of a safer tobacco alternative.  Marty and colleagues published their findings in the American Journal of Public Health, leading directly to their being invited to a National Institutes of Health Consensus Development Conference.  The conference led to a surgeon general’s “Report on the Health Hazards of Smokeless Tobacco,” and in turn to new regulations aimed at keeping smokeless tobacco away from kids.

“I felt that if there was any time in my career when I might have influenced some important public health policy, it was probably that work.  And I think my work here in Florida with the legislature probably has had some benefit, but you never know,” he said with a laugh.

“It was the work of a lot of people.  Charlie Mahan was the State Health Officer, and when he came down here as dean in 1995, we continued to work with the legislature and with the voluntary health agencies in the public health sector across the state to keep this topic in the forefront.”

The state filed its suit against big tobacco in 1995.  Florida and four other states settled with Liggett Group in 1996.  The following year, the “big four” – R.J. Reynolds, Phillip Morris, Brown and Williamson, and Lorillard – settled with the Sunshine State alone for $11.3 billion, still the largest single-state tobacco settlement.

Predictably, the Goliaths that controlled 97 percent of the tobacco industry admitted nothing, but their industry finally would be financially accountable for the state’s tobacco carnage.  Florida’s settlement was the second state tobacco victory among three other state settlements, with Mississippi being a month ahead of Florida but receiving a much smaller financial pay-out.  A “master settlement” with 46 other states followed a year later.  Nearly half of Florida’s take from its solitary action was subsequently funneled into local education, prevention and intervention programs.

Marty continues his efforts as a member of the state surgeon general’s Tobacco Advisory Council, concentrating on the countless new ways the tobacco industry persists in pushing its product on the public, including hookah pipe use, scores of variously flavored tobaccos, and even a dissolvable tobacco that resembles Tic Tacs.  He also provides administrative supervision to USF Health’s Area Health Education Center.  Much of the work of the Center’s work is focused on tobacco cessation and provides this work through a $2.6-million State Department of Health contract that is funded from the Tobacco Trust Fund that was created by the State tobacco settlement.

“The college played an important role in the early efforts of addressing tobacco use in the state,” Marty said.  “I know there were things going on before we ever got here, but they really picked up steam in the early ’90s and led to things that we benefit from today, like the State Tobacco Trust Fund that helps support one of the very best tobacco prevention programs in the nation.  It’s a legacy that’s pretty significant, and one that our faculty, staff and students in the College contributed to.  It should be a point of pride for all of us.”

Story by David Brothers, College of Public Health.

Tampa, FL (Dec. 12, 2014) – The USF Health Morsani College of Medicine is conducting a clinical trial comparing the effectiveness of a new rapid-onset anticoagulant medication known as Apixaban with the standard anticoagulant drug warfarin in stroke patients with atrial fibrillation, the most common type of abnormal heart rhythm.

The investigator-initiated study is part of a $2.2 million research award from Bristol Myers Squibb awarded to Arthur Labovitz, MD, professor and chair of the Department of Cardiovascular Sciences for the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine and director of Non-Invasive Cardiology at Tampa General Hospital.

USF Health cardiologist Dr. Arthur Labovitz, principal investigator for the AREST study.

Dr. Labovitz is the principal investigator for the study, which is called “Apixaban for Early Prevention of Recurrent Embolic Stroke and Hemorrhagic Transformation,” or AREST. The study is the part of the USF Health Heart Institute, which is co-directed by Dr. Labovitz.

Anticoagulant therapy lowers the risk of strokes caused by embolisms (blood clots) in patients with atrial fibrillation, but its use is associated with potentially deadly bleeding. The new randomized trial will evaluate whether early treatment with Apixaban, an alternative requiring less monitoring and re-dosing than warfarin, can prevent recurrent strokes and reduce the risk of brain bleeding in patients who have suffered a first embolic stroke.

“Current guidelines suggest delaying treatment for patients with atrial fibrillation who have had a stroke, often times for two weeks or more,” Dr. Labovitz said. “This commonly results in poor outcomes in these individuals. The AREST study will more aggressively treat these patients earlier, sometimes within 24 hours of symptoms, in order to improve their outcomes. The protocol tests the hypothesis that one of the newer blood thinners, Apixaban (Eliquis), will be safe and effective in this regard.”

Early research showing that the risk of intracranial bleeding is markedly reduced (50 percent) with the new oral anticoagulant prompted him for initiate and develop the AREST study, Dr. Labovitz said.

In the USF AREST study, researchers will give either warfarin or Apixaban to 120 adult patients admitted to Tampa General Hospital with a transient ischemic attack (TIA) or small to medium ischemic stroke, who also have a history of, or current diagnosis of, atrial fibrillation. Atrial fibrillation is a common cause of stroke.

Patients will be randomly given the medications within 48 hours of stroke symptom onset and then followed for 180 days to compare the incidence of recurrent stroke, death or intracranial hemorrhage.

USF Health’s Dr. Scott Burgin directs the TGH Comprehensive Stroke Center and is a co-investigator for the AREST study.

“This study could answer a question that has long been undefined, and that is the optimal timing for giving anticoagulant medication after having an acute stroke,” said W. Scott Burgin, MD, professor of neurology and chief of the USF Cerebrovascular Division in the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, director of the HFAP Certified Comprehensive Stroke Center at Tampa General Hospital, and a co-investigator for the AREST study.

“This new anticoagulant medication is already showing a greater effectiveness and a higher safety profile so starting the medication sooner than the standard 14 days could improve outcomes for stroke patients.”

Dr. Labovitz (left) and co-investigator Dr. David Rose stand in the heart of the Neurosciences Intensive Care Unit at TGH. The researchers will track stroke patients taking the new anticoagulant for the AREST study.

Co-Investigators for the USF AREST study, who are all USF Health faculty, are Dr. Burgin; David Rose, MD, assistant professor of Neurology and medical director, Neuro-ICU at TGH; Sanders Chae, MD, JD, assistant professor of cardiology; Michael Fradley, MD, assistant professor of cardiology; Theresa Beckie, PhD, professor in the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine and the USF College of Nursing; Waldo R. Guerrero, MD, assistant professor of vascular neurology; and Ryan Martin, MD, a fellow in the USF Department of Cardiovascular Sciences.

For more information about the AREST clinical trial at USF Health, please contact Bonnie Kirby, MSN, RN, research administrator for USF Cardiovascular Sciences, at bkirby@health.usf.edu or call (813) 259-8543.

About USF Health

USF Health’s mission is to envision and implement the future of health. It is the partnership of the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, the College of Nursing, the College of Public Health, the College of Pharmacy, the School of Biomedical Sciences and the School of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences; and the USF Physician’s Group. The University of South Florida is a Top 50 research university in total research expenditures among both public and private institutions nationwide, according to the National Science Foundation. For more information, visit www.health.usf.edu

Proposal now advances to Florida Legislature and Governor

Tampa, FL (Feb. 19, 2015) — The Florida Board of Governors today approved the request by the University of South Florida to build its new USF Health medical school and heart institute in downtown Tampa.  The unanimous vote to fund the proposal – $17 million from the state this year as part of a $62-million multi-year request — is a key step in making the vision for a downtown Morsani College of Medicine-Heart Institute a reality.    For more information, visit: http://www.usf.edu/downtown/

The project still requires the approval of the Florida Legislature and Governor Rick Scott.  If it gains that support, the facility would become an anchor for the plan by Tampa Bay Lightning owner and USF partner Jeff Vinik to create an economically thriving downtown waterfront environment where people could live, work and play.

“We are so pleased,” said USF President Judy Genshaft, speaking to media following the vote. “We worked very hard. There’s a lot of academic merit as well as economic merit to moving the medical school and the heart institute downtown.”

“We are very grateful that the Florida Board of Governors recognizes the merits of this project to advance USF’s core academic and research missions, while at the same time supporting our community,” said Dr. Charles Lockwood, senior vice president for USF Health and dean of the Morsani College of Medicine.  “Now we look forward to building additional support with the Legislature and Governor Scott.”

In remarks to the Board before the vote, Dr. Lockwood emphasized that the proposed downtown facility would be built with a combination of state and private funding. “We are leveraging private support to gain a superior facility,” he said.

The new facility would be located at the corner of Meridian Avenue and Channelside Drive, on land donated to the university by Mr. Vinik.

The City of Tampa and Community Redevelopment Agency have committed funding to restore the surrounding street grid and make needed infrastructure improvements to support the area’s redevelopment.

Dr. Charles Lockwood, senior vice president for USF Health and dean of the Morsani College of Medicine, with the medical school leaders, l to r, Jessica Watson, Cathy Lee and Ed Woodward, who attended Thursday’s successful BOG meeting.

“We are thrilled with today’s news from Tallahassee and as a ‘partner’ with the University of South Florida on the project, we thank the Florida Board of Governors for their unanimous vote today,” Vinik said in a statement.  “We look forward to making the Morsani School of Medicine and the accompanying Heart Institute one of the major anchors in our development district.  We envision and embrace the vibrancy that USF and its students, faculty and staff will bring to downtown Tampa. This marks a great step forward.”

“Today, thanks to the support of the Florida Board of Governors, we can say with confidence that the University of South Florida Morsani School of Medicine and the USF Heart Institute will call downtown Tampa home,” Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn said in a statement.

“This is a big, bold collaboration. It takes imagination, public and private financial commitment, and tenacity to see a vision as dynamic as this through to fruition. And, it’s because of the University of South Florida’s continued commitment to academic excellence that building them a new facility with immediate access to Tampa General Hospital and our urban core is the right choice.”

After a delay in the vote by the BOG last month, leadership from USF and USF Health prepared a comprehensive business plan with detailed supporting materials. The plan documents how the proposed facility would maximize the state’s investment in USF’s core mission by leveraging the university’s ability to attract the best and brightest students, the most talented faculty and the country’s leading research scientists.